AFP Reporters Forced To Fact-Check Wikipedia, Facebook

from the isn't-that-part-of-the-job? dept

Perhaps taking a page from certain universities, the London bureau chief of the Agence France Presse (AFP), Pierre Lesourd, stated that the news agency's reporters are not allowed to use Facebook and Wikipedia as sources. However, Lesourd at least clarified the policy -- saying that reporters can cite any online resources as long as they also refer to other reliable, independent sources to verify the facts. Lesourd announced the AFP's position after the issue came up due to several news agencies being fooled by a fake profile of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Facebook.

Fortunately, the AFP realizes that fact-checking is an important part of its journalistic mission, but it seems a bit disappointing that this basic principle of responsible news reporting needs to be re-affirmed for "new media" sources. Then again, there will always be mistakes in any kind of research, so the real lesson here may be that there is an equally important basic principle of reading the news: "Don't believe everything you read."

Facebook?

Someone actually used Facebook as a source in a paper? That tells me something about some current journalists (and not good things). I think even elementary schoolers wouldn't cite Facebook in a report.

Bias is everywhere - but it helps to see through

The funny thing about establisted media is that they can be biased. If you only watch TV you will hardly have heard of
--- ----. Yet more then over 200,000 people put up money to support him. I think that is might be why looking at a Wiki, Facebook and other sources is useful.

We accept that ads have a bias to sell the product. So we check for crazy claims. Yet some are true. e.g the crazy claim that the modern cell phone (e.g. Nokia N95 ) has more computing power than a university computer facility of 30 years ago. This is amazing but true. It shows the rate of technological improvements in computing.

So learning to check if the information is true is a important skill for everyone. It is like 'debugging', which is a skill required not only by programmers and engineers, but by everyone nowadays It is a skill we all need as we use systems made of computers, which are hidden in phones, cars and sound systems and their interactions.

Sometimes it is wise to ask:-
Why are they telling me this?
Who is trying to sell me something?
Are they trying to mislead me?

Re:

Not if you know how to read...there's little citation marks after each claim with a footnote at the bottom of the page. You can easily check on an alleged fact and see if it is junk or real and edit as necessary.

Re:

So who did this "Ron Paul" guy knock over with a shovel to have the largest one-day fundraiser in U.S. political history, raising over $6 million? Must have been elvis. Someone please go fix that wikipedia page.

Although appalling, this is hardly surprising. The media has been biased for so long, I don't think most of them would know a fact if it hit them in the face. Granted, there are some honest and legitimate reporters out there, but they are becoming fewer and fewer all the time.

Re: Absence of Malice

Yep, because we all know the only reliable source for news that isnt created out of thin air is the NY Times. Maybe Dan Rather can get a job there as fact checker when he isnt helping NBC news blow up pickup trucks?